50 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



years since, when speaking of the Fergus O'Connor 

 Chartist gatherings ; that the report in the papers 

 stated that he turned round towards his own party, and 

 said, " Why do the people elect leaders from amongst 

 themselves? Because you, the country gentlemen of 

 England, neglect them. If you were to do as you did 

 of old, place yourselves at tlieir head, they would 

 blindly, gladly follow you." These were something 

 like the words I reminded him of, and he looked at 

 me and said, "Yes, Mr. Fowler, and if they don't 

 do that, of what use are country gentlemen ? " As 

 Artemus Ward says : " The rebook was severe but 

 merited." 



Many a time I have heard the great ^Minister crush 

 his democratic opponents by some severe but good- 

 humoured remark which brought on the speaker the 

 ridicule of even his own friends and supporters. His 

 readiness of retort, his imperturbable gravity, the twinkle 

 of his eye, his apparently suppressed laughter at his 

 own remarks, were irresistible. A Mr. Barry, of Chilton, 

 a prominent Radical Dissenter, never let an occasion 

 pass that he did not ask him if he would vote for the 

 abolition of Church-rates. He listened patiently to his 

 question, and said, " On so many occasions this gentle- 

 man has asked the self-same question, that if I wanted 

 another reason to those he had already given, it would 

 be that if Church-rates were abolished, ' Othello's occu- 

 pation would be gone.' " On another nomination day 

 he was speaking very deliberately and calmly on some 

 great foreign question, when a man in the crowd sang 

 out, "Speak louder and quicker." He stopped, singled 



